“This is the tip of the iceberg,” Rekha Lakshmanan, chief strategy officer of The Immunization Partnership, a Houston-based nonprofit focused on vaccine access, told KFF Health News. “I think this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.”
Four updates:
1. The Texas Department of State Health Services has confirmed 90 measles cases since late January, marking the state’s largest outbreak since 1992. The majority of cases are among children who are either unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is known; five of the individuals were vaccinated. At least 16 people have been hospitalized. A total of 285 measles cases were reported nationwide in 2024, according to CDC data.
2. Meanwhile, nine cases have been identified in Lea County, N.M., which shares a border with Texas’ Gaines County, where nearly 60 cases have been confirmed. Officials believe the New Mexico cases are tied to the outbreak in Texas, though investigations are ongoing.
3. Speaking on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Feb. 23, former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, said the outbreak is likely to spread to other states, particularly in regions with low vaccination rates.
“I think that this is going to get into the hundreds of cases and could take many months to try to fully snuff out,” Dr. Gottlieb said. “The risk to the United States right now is that a virus that has been largely extinguished from circulation in the U.S. could return and just continue to spread, even at a low level, and the U.S. could be at risk of losing its measles elimination status.”
4. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccination rate among kindergartners in Texas’ Gaines County was 82% last year, about 10% lower than the state average in public schools, according to data cited by The New York Times. The county has one of the highest exemption rates for the vaccine in the state. According to the CDC, community coverage, or herd immunity, is achieved when at least 95% of individuals in a community have been vaccinated.
